Kansas Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, President Obama's candidate to head the Department of Health and Human Services, would bring expertise as a former state health insurance regulator but not deep ties to the members of Congress who will decide the fate of the president's health care proposals, experts say.

New administrations always face a cacophony of competing demands, but few presidents have been confronted with the sort of urgent and varied pleas being made to Barack Obama, amid two wars and the worst economic crisis in generations.

The insurance industry embraced many of President-elect Barack Obama's ideas for better health care coverage Wednesday, though it opposes a key piece of his plan to require employers to help pay for that coverage.